[Published by Templar Publishing]
The opening endpapers of this lovely story invite us to perch on the end of Monty the lion’s nose, the best vantage point for admiring his mane. “Yes, Monty, you’re right, that is one spectacular ‘do you’re sporting.”
Monty, as you can tell, is very proud of his long, curly, colourful mane. Compliments descend upon his locks from all over the jungle. His friends the meerkats are allowed to play in his orange hair, but their tugging and tickling starts to annoy Monty, so he attempts to roll them off. A giant crash later and Monty finds himself and his mane covered in dirt. The meerkats try to help by flossying things up a little, but Monty is not impressed with the feathers, so he shakes them off and stomps off to the waterhole to check himself out.
A creature at the waterhole with tiny twinkly eyes joins Monty’s fan club and heaps compliments upon the mane. Flattery, as so often is the case, turns Monty’s head and he leans closer to allow the small creature a better view. As always, I don’t want to ruin the excitement, so all I’ll say is that Monty does indeed earn the title of magnificent.
The illustrations in the story are visually delightful, I loved the extreme close-ups. And Monty the lion? Well with a mane like that, who wouldn’t love him!
[No longer available at Auckland Libraries.]
Or buy Monty’s magnificent mane from Fishpond.
myfriendlucy 